Patent 7179803 was granted and assigned to Australian National University on February, 2007 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
The present invention relates generally to a method of retarding, reducing or otherwise inhibiting viral functional activity and, more particularly, to a method of reducing, retarding or otherwise inhibiting viral functional activity by down-regulating Vpu ion channel functional activity. Even more particularly, the present invention provides a method of treating HIV infection or AIDS by inhibiting Vpu ion channel mediated HIV replication.